「Beneath Crescent Mountain」

It was like a brand-new city, complete with a well-designed ventilation system and even a subterranean Dark River.

At this moment, along both banks of the Dark River, members of the Demon Race clad in exquisite chain mail advanced in tight groups of ten. Creeping vines followed their progress, growing continuously along the river’s edge.

Demons occasionally emerged from the rows of buildings built along the bank. Others used brute force to smash down doors, looting everything of value from within.

Elsewhere, at the entrance to a pitch-black underground prison, several demons lay on the ground, foaming at the mouth. They had clearly been poisoned.

The miasma here was so dense that a single breath was fatal. The demons who had ventured here were all trusted subordinates of the five Mountain Monarchs, for they knew this place held what their masters truly desired.

BANG!

Someone nearby violently forced open the iron gate to a hidden passage.

Immediately, those nearby began to vomit before collapsing, their eyes rolling back in their heads. It was the dense miasma again. The vines crawling across the walls, however, were unaffected. They grew and spread rapidly, even beginning to actively absorb the toxic gas, purifying it through their network of tendrils that snaked throughout the underground world.

「A quarter of an hour later...」

The miasma in both the underground prison and the hidden passage was now completely gone. Countless vines crept along the walls, delving deeper into both areas. Demon soldiers followed close behind, lighting torches to illuminate their surroundings.

The prison had been used to house the Corpse Soldiers. They were all still there, but they had lost their spiritual animation, reduced to truly useless corpses. Inside the hidden passage was a massive sacrificial Array. Surrounding the Array were the bodies of several thousand recently slain demons. Their blood and flesh had been completely drained, leaving behind nothing but empty husks of skin. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

On the altar were traces of fire from a Pill Furnace, indicating someone had been performing Alchemy here within the last two days. The alchemist, however, was nowhere to be found.

「Outside」

High in the clouds, Wang Ping frowned. He looked at Zhong Tong and said, "We’ve been tricked. The place is completely empty. I suspect they escaped through the underground Dark River. And another thing—your Corpse Soldiers are all useless. They forcibly extracted their Spirit Bodies and flesh."

"Holy shit..."

Zhong Tong swore loudly. Cursing up a storm, he shot off toward the other side of Crescent Mountain. Wang Ping cast a divination with his Copper Coins, then gestured for Zuo Xuan and Hu Qianqian to follow.

Soon, the group, led by Zhong Tong, arrived at the bank of a river flowing out of a cave. Zhong Tong held a golden Command Flag. As he unfurled it, golden halos of light radiated outward. As the light spread, it caused the metallic elements in the air to coalesce and manifest, simultaneously stirring the metal deep within the earth.

Within the golden light, they saw four blurry figures emerge from the river. One of them had arms so long they hung down to its ankles.

The four of them didn’t fly, but instead plunged deep into the jungle.

"It’s the ones who got away last night!" Zhong Tong was furious. He seemed to want to blame Wang Ping for not pressing their advantage and giving chase yesterday.

’Strange. The Wood Spirit Qi had already covered this entire area, but the Wood Spirits didn’t react to their presence at all,’ Wang Ping muttered to himself as he walked to the edge of the jungle where the four figures had entered.

"There’s a very faint spiritual trace, like that of an animal. A rat... a very smelly rat," Yu Lian said, its tail wrapped around Wang Ping’s arm. Its head stretched out, sensing for anything unusual among the plants.

"They wouldn’t dare fly. There’s no way they could have made it out of this jungle in a single night!" Zuo Xuan declared. The Spirit Cat beside her let out a "meow."

"The scent is still fresh. Should we give chase?" Zuo Xuan asked, looking at Wang Ping.

"Of course we’re going to chase them!" Zhong Tong cut in.

At that, Wang Ping took out two Copper Coins and cast a divination. After a moment of careful calculation, he cast another.

The omens were excellent.

It was the first time he had ever received such a positive reading while on a mission. He resisted the urge to use a Luck-Borrowing Talisman and said, "Qianqian and I will keep watch from the air. You two follow the scent on the ground."

With that, he tossed down a handful of flower seeds. Their spiritual signature was exceptionally strong, making them perfect for tracking. As the flowers began to bloom, Wang Ping formed a hand seal with his right hand, activating a Spirit Gathering Array before ascending into the sky with Hu Qianqian.

The dense forest ahead stretched for hundreds of miles. Wang Ping watched Zuo Xuan and Zhong Tong enter the jungle, led by the Spirit Cat. He immediately fired two signal flares into the sky. After telling Yu Lian to conceal herself on his person, he flew forward, following the pair on the ground. As he flew, he spread his Wood Spirit Qi, connecting with the lush jungle below to track the "rat scent" Yu Lian had mentioned.

「A short while later...」

Wang Ping sensed a powerful aura sweep over him from behind. He turned to see a female Fox Demon in a black robe. The insignia of the Third Seat of the Daoist Scripture Hall hovered above her head. She was merely following at a steady distance, providing backup with no intention of intervening herself.

This was the expert he had summoned with the signal flare to provide reinforcement. She would only act when absolutely necessary.

Hu Qianqian beside him, as well as Zuo Xuan and Zhong Tong on the ground below, all saw the Third Seat’s insignia hanging in the sky. Their confidence surged, and they couldn’t help but see Wang Ping in a new light. This was especially true for Zhong Tong; he knew the Fox Race had a Third Seat in the Daoist Scripture Hall, but he possessed neither the power nor the status to request her assistance.

Spurred on, the search party unconsciously picked up the pace. As they neared a sheer-faced mountain range, Wang Ping suddenly detected the quarry’s presence near the peaks ahead. He instantly stopped Hu Qianqian, then locked onto Zuo Xuan’s aura to send her a voice transmission.

Zuo Xuan, who had been darting swiftly through the woods, heard Wang Ping’s message and immediately halted, bringing the Spirit Cat to a stop with her. Ahead of her, the bell in Zhong Tong’s hand also reacted, sensing the same presence from the riverbank. He, however, paid it no mind, his pace never faltering.

"Wait..."

WHOOSH—

Before Zuo Xuan could finish her sentence, the sound of an arrow slicing through the air echoed in her ears. She saw a cyan arrow cutting off Zhong Tong’s path.

The arrow reached Zhong Tong in the blink of an eye, striking him in the chest. Fortunately, his reflexes were fast enough. The Gold Spirit Qi from his Gold Spirit Vein flared, forming a golden Protective Shield around him that deflected the shaft.

But in the instant the arrow was deflected, another five followed in a simultaneous volley.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

THWIP!

THWIP!

Every arrow in the volley struck the exact same spot. The first three shattered Zhong Tong’s protective barrier. Of the remaining two, one pierced his chest, and the other blew his head apart!

Zuo Xuan, who was right behind him, had no time to even attempt a rescue. Terrified at the sight of Zhong Tong’s obliterated head, she frantically manifested a suit of Inner Armor and surrounded herself with a whirling shield of countless Embroidery Needles.

Wang Ping, however, had already spotted the attacker: a falcon-headed demon. The demon held a longbow in its right hand and was forming a hand seal with its left.

"He’s going to self-detonate!" Hu Qianqian cried, sensing the instability in the demon’s aura.

A vein throbbed between Wang Ping’s eyebrows. The Spirit Gathering Array around him flared to life, instantly drawing in all the Wood Spirit Qi from a ten-li radius. He brought his right index and middle fingers together, pointing them at the Eagle Demon that was about to self-detonate. He issued an Imperial Decree with a single word: "Suppress!"